Dominican Republic Trip Part 4

This next story is probably my (Carrie’s) favorite. We met a woman named Milan who received her first loan several years ago. Her business was sewing clothing. Through the loan process and her relationship with her loan officer, she became a believer. The way she describes her friendship with her loan officer (another woman) we could tell how much love and care she had for her. Before she was a believer, she would spend much of her savings on gambling. Once she accepted the Lord, she wanted to do something more significant with that money. She realized that sewing, while she was good at it, was not her passion, but that she longed to give the children living on her street and in her neighborhood an education. So, Milan started a school in her own house. She was committed to not only teach them, but feed them (as most come from very poor families without much money for food) and also clothe them (since she is skilled at sewing). Well, her school grew until today where it has completely taken over her house and is at full capacity at around 250 students. Each student pays a fee to attend the school, but since most are from very poor families, many children’s tuitions are subsidized by donations from Esparanza and others. At the end of 2007 she had been able to purchase a piece of vacant property two doors down from the school, and a two-story school building that is much bigger than her former house is just being completed so she can accept more children. See below for a picture of the neighborhood. The school will be the nicest building around.

When we walked into the school we were greeted with many smiling faces and “hola” as we made our way to the back. I was amazed at how many children had fit into such a small room (no fire codes, apparently!). You should definitely check out this video we found done by the folks at Hope. It’s really neat as you get to hear Milan’s heart as well. You can see all the kids squished into the rooms too.

The school she talks about building is the school I mentioned and the building we were able to see almost completed. So cool! And the guy that speaks at the end is Daniel, who was so hospitable to our group- he was our “tour guide” who drove us around and who took Greg, Erik, and I on Saturday around Santo Domingo (the capital) before our flight home.

Milan school video:




<< Read DR Trip Part 3

Dominican Republic Trip Part 3

Most of the people and businesses we were going to see were not in the same community. So, we did a lot of driving and it was great to see the countryside and some small towns and get a glimpse of life in the DR. Sugar cane production was everywhere and we drove by several baseball fields with games going on. Baseball is huge in the DR. Every little boy’s dream is to play in the major leagues in the States.

Admittedly, part of the fun was the conversations we had in the van while driving to our destinations. To give you an idea, here’s a brief list of every one on the trip’s job: 2 HOPE employees (microfinance experts extraordinaire! That’s for you, Chris), 2 Dominican Esperanza employees, a software engineer, a marketing director, an entrepreneur/YWAM guy, an equities investor, a student, and us. So we had discussions ranging from microfinance (since obviously we had that interest in common) to business development, personal lives/loves, cattle farming (we saw a lot of cattle in the DR and one guy had a ranch in TX), meat cuts (a lot of us like meat), etcetera. It was fun learning about each person and coming away from the trip learning from and really blessed by each and every one. Ah, the body of Christ.

Another entrepreneur/loan recipient was a man by the name of Jose. We knew when we had arrived because there were red wheelbarrows lining the street. He makes the best wheelbarrows around. Self proclaimed, but totally confident to stand behind his quality product! He was awesome. He showed us his work space and the tools he had been able to purchase with his loan. Capital is very hard to come by in third world countries, so when entrepreneurs like Jose can get access to funds to develop his business, the results are amazing. He also has been able to hire a few employees to help him build.

We asked if he waited for wheelbarrow orders to come in or if he sold them “retail” (so to speak) and he said he just continually makes them and they continually sell- orders or bulk or individual sales. He is a father of two little girls, and is in the process of building an upstairs for his family to live in (they currently live in a small room with dirt floors). When we asked him how the loan had impacted him, he of course told us all about his business and how he had been able to expand. But he also explained a bit of how the Lord has changed his life- he and his wife had been separated and he was learning how to make his marriage more of a priority in his life.

<< See DR Trip Part 2

>> See DR Trip Part 4

DR Trip Part 2

To read part one, scroll down or click here.

The first entrepreneur we were able to visit with and see her business was a woman from the bank meeting (see previous post). She and her husband have 3 small children, and from what we could tell her husband commuted to work a distance away from their community. Her business was that of a food stand of sorts. A mini-market filled with snack items, drinks, and cooking goods. This woman’s face came alive when she told us about her business- what she does, how she gets the supplies, what it has meant to her family. As we were talking with her she pointed out the concrete house in construction next to her mini-market. With her savings from her business, she and her husband are able to build a better house for their family.



<< See DR Trip Part 1
>> See DR Trip Part 3

Trip to the Dominican Republic, Part 1

We have recently returned from the Dominican Republic! “What?” you say. “I didn’t know you were going there?!” Yep, we did. It was a very short trip- we left Wednesday night and returned Sunday morning. So for a whole 48 hours we were in the country! The following is the beginning of a 5 part series of our trip: the why, how and what we did.

Since college, we’ve both been interested in something called business as mission. If you don’t know what that is, you should do a bit of research on your own by following the links in this sentence. A main thought behind business as mission is pursuing profitable business that directly meets needs of the world's poor. Specifically within business as mission, we have been intrigued by microfinance - simply put, granting small loans to 3rd world entrepreneurs to jumpstart their business. Lacking collateral to receive typical loans, microfinance uses “group capital” - a way for people who don’t typically have anything in value to offer collateral for a loan, so a group of 5 or so will vouch to pay for each other should one not be able to make a payment. And the thing is- it’s working! Most microfinance organizations have a group repayment rate of 97-99%. For us, this means little unless the good news of Jesus Christ as a hope for this temporal life is also being shared through the microfinance program. When we heard about the opportunity to go with Hope International and check out what this looks like in practice we couldn’t say no.

We took a redeye from LAX to Miami Wednesday night. Redeyes are no fun. This picture is of us nearing the end of our last flight. When we arrived in Santo Domingo Thursday afternoon we were pretty wiped out but excited to be there. We met with some awesome people from Hope who showed us around for the weekend as well as some unforgettable new friends who also joined us on the trip.

On Friday we accomplished most of the trip’s objectives. One of the first things we did was to join a bank meeting. This bank was made up of 9 groups of five, lead by one loan officer. At the meeting, each client gave his or her payment for that week (they meet bi-weekly). When someone is absent or cannot make their payment, the group is required to come up with that person’s share. This doesn’t mean that they are more than willing to do this, and in fact we saw first hand that this can bring frustration from the group members (which is another reason why it helped to understand that the groups are formed by choice of each group member). Also at these bank meetings they have educational workshops where the loan officer shares some sort of education on disease, spirituality, business training, etc. This picture shows one of the loan officers giving a workshop.

We were able to ask a few of the clients about their business. This is one man sharing about how his loan has helped him in his butchery business. This was one passionate 80 year old butcher!

After this, we were able to visit several clients and their businesses. It was so neat to see microfinance in action. “Stay tuned” for part 2 of our DR trip! But in the meantime, check out this video of a loan officer with Hope in the DR….

>> See DR Trip Part 2